News Round-Up - 28 December 2012

• The ICTR has a new registrar, Bongani Majola, who is a former deputy prosecutor of the tribunal.

• The NY Times carries a piece on life under Islamist rule in Northern Mali, where at least 14 people have had their feet cut off since the takeover last Spring.  Last week the UNSC passed a resolution authorising military intervention in Mali.  

• The Washington post has published an interesting report on the CIA's little-known Global Response Staff, which employs contractors to provide an "unobtrusive layer of security for CIA officers in high-risk outposts."

• It is reported that UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council have issued statements condemning armed attacks in several towns in the Central African Republic by the Sedeka coalition rebels

• Hamas has banned Palestinian journalists in Gaza from working with or giving interviews to the Israeli media.  Israeli journalists have been banned by their own government from entering Gaza since 2006, purportedly for security reasons. In the West Bank, President Abbas has said he will disband the Palestinian Authority and hand over authority to Netanyahu if there is no move to renewing peace talks after the forthcoming Israeli elections in January.

• Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov has said that Russia has invited head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib to talks regarding Syria's political future.  The invitation comes amid a round of intense diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria.

ICL News - 21 December 2012

• The ICC Appeals Chamber rejected the OTP's request for a suspensive order regarding Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui's release from detention following his acquittal earlier this week, finding that in the absence of any strong reasons in support of the ordering of suspensive effect, Mr Ngudjolo's liberty interest must prevail.  

• The ICTR has sentenced former government minister Augustin Ngirabatwareto to 35 years for his part in the 1994 genocide, marking the end of the last ICTR trial.  9 accused remain at large.

• Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia is "not preoccupied" with the fate of the Assad regime, signalling Russia's waning support.

• The NY Times has reported on the Syrian regime's  use of cluster bombs against civilians.  Cluster bombs are the subject of an international ban on account of their inherent imprecision, though neither Syria nor the US are party to the treaty in question. 

• The UNSC has unanimously approved a two track resolution to help recapture the north of Mali which is controlled by Al Qaeda linked groups. 

• Salam Fayaad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, has called for a boycott of Israeli goods in response to Israel's refusal to transfer tax revenue to the West Bank.  Israel's refusal came after Palestine successfully bid for observer state status at the UN last month.  

• Fighting has broken out in the Tana Delta in Kenya where at least 28 people are said to have been killed in a clash between the Orma and Pokomo communities.

• Libyan Ambassador to the UK, Mahmud Nacua, has said that the government will hand over all files related to the Lockerbie bombing of 1988 which killed 270 people.